Actively Engaged Defined

The much anticipated clarification by the FAA regarding the definition of “actively engaged†for the purposes of Inspection Authorization (IA) renewal was published last week in the August 4, 2011 Federal Register/Volume 76, No. 150. The FAA restates in the notice the term “actively engaged†has in the past caused confusion among both industry and the FAA Aviation Safety Inspectors who are tasked with renewing an individual technician’s IA. The notice restates and emphasizes the regulatory requirements for holding the IA, and states, “the FAA has adopted a broad definition of ‘‘actively engaged’’ to include not only part-time employment but also occasional activity, which does not require employment and can occur on an infrequent basis.†The definition includes supervision in technical and executive roles for either part-time, full-time, or an occasional basis in the definition. The notice goes on to address IA holders in other maintenance roles such as instructors, maintenance controllers, auditors, technical representatives and states these roles will be considered depending on the individual duties and activity. Everyone is encouraged to read and understand the three and a half pages of background, comment discussion, definition clarification, and implementation details. This enhanced definition will be used for the next IA renewal date which is March 31, 2013. The following link will take you to federal register document. Definition Clarification Six months ago the aircraft maintenance community rapidly came together for a common cause by submitting over 900 comments to the FAA. Was everyone’s individual concerns addressed; perhaps not. Was the overall industry concern addressed; it appears it has. The entire exercise was an example of how we as an aircraft maintenance community can, given the right reason, ban together for a common cause and affect change. Ron